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Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at West Allis Central High School on July 23, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin.
Jim Vondruska | Getty Images
A "White Dudes for Harris" online fundraising and organizing rally raised more than $4 million for the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday night, with speakers who included would-be running mates, Hollywood actors, and labor leaders.
More than 150,000 joined the online stream for the event, which was broadcast on YouTube, blowing past the original target of 10,000 RSVPs set by organizers several days ago.
The call is the male version of a "White Women: Answer the Call" Zoom fundraising meeting that drew more than 160,000 women to support Harris last week after President Joe Biden dropped out of the election against former President Donald Trump, and endorsed the vice president as his replacement atop the Democratic ticket.
"I'm white, I'm a dude, and I'm here for Harris," said actor Jeff Bridges, who played the uber-laid-back bowler and White Russian-drinking character "The Dude" in the Coen brothers movie "The Big Lebowski," on the call.
"I'm excited, man!" Bridges said.
LinkedIn found Reid Hoffman and the film director J.J. Abrams during the call each promised to match $50,000 in donations raised from attendees.
"Ninety nine days from now we have an opportunity to help Kamala Harris make some history, we also have the opportunity to change some minds, to have some tough but fair conversations, to meet other white dudes where they are and to address some things that, well frankly, just haven't been addressed," the organizers of "White Dudes for Harris" said in a statement.
"We are honest, open, and ready to support our first black woman president,"
Speakers during the session included U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, all of whom reportedly were being considered as possible running mates for Harris.
All four also are themselves "white dudes."
Walz said, "We're not in this alone. The rest of the world needs us."
"Here's the great news," Walz said.
"How often in a hundred days do you get to get to change the trajectory of the world? How often in a hundred days do you get to do something that's going to impact generations to come?" Walz asked.
"And how often in the world do you make that bastard wake up afterwards and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road, and you know that's something that guy's going to have to live with the rest of his life."
Buttigieg said, "The vibes right now are incredible ... the momentum is extraordinary,"
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a press conference following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 25, 2024.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
"Donald Trump's unfitness for office is clear, and nobody is better positioned to prosecute that case than Kamala Harris," Buttigieg said.
Cooper announced online during the call that he was withdrawing from consideration as Harris' running mate.
"I strongly support Vice President Harris' campaign for President," Cooper wrote on X. "I know she's going to win and I was honored to be considered for this role. This just wasn't the right time for North Carolina and for me to potentially be on a national ticket."
On the call, Cooper lambasted Trump and his allies for painting Harris as a "DEI candidate," arguing that what Republicans really were saying was that a woman of color was by definition not qualified to be president.
"I know we all love our country and we can show it by getting to work," Cooper said.
Pritzker highlighted the fact that Trump earlier this year was convicted of 34 felonies related to a hush money payment to p*rn star Stormy Daniels found liable for sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll, and is "a congenital liar."
"He's a fraud," Pritzker said.
Harris became the Democratic Party's de facto nominee last week, after Biden's stunning decision to quit the race.
Harris, if elected, would be the first woman, and only the second person of color to be elected president of the United States. The vice president's father is a Black man from Jamaica and her mother is from India.
Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, are both white.
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"As White Dudes, we know full well how MAGA cynically preys on resentments," the White Dudes for Harris organizers said in a social media kit for the event. "This moment of crisis is challenging us, but we won't let fear define who we are and take us - or our country - down a dark path
"As White men, we recognize all too clearly the culture of toxic entitlement surrounding Donald Trump," the organizers wrote. "We need to be honest with ourselves and each other about the role we've played in our nation's history - good and bad."
